


Final Bows

by R_Sublett



Series: New York Nightlife [2]
Category: Smosh, Smosh Games, Smosh Pit
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, and yeah, destroys ships, guess who's back bois, hope this fic breaks hearts, it's a sequel so read the first one, thought you'd seen the last of me?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2020-06-30 14:05:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19854751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/R_Sublett/pseuds/R_Sublett
Summary: Set two years after the events of Circus, Olivia Sui is struggling to find her true footing as her whole life the past four years as revolved around one special person.





	1. Two Years

**Author's Note:**

> surprise bitch

Originally, Olivia planned on staying at Circus until she managed to pay off her student loans, but somehow she ended up staying. Her bills were paid off within a year and a half, she wasn’t living paycheck to paycheck, and she would humbly admit that she had a semi-luxurious lifestyle. An apartment that wasn’t the size of a broom closet in New York City wasn’t easy to afford yet she could pay the rent with only the help of one roommate, so being a stripper wasn’t the worst thing in the world. That’s why Olivia remained a stripper at the upscale nightclub, Circus, for the past seven years.

But seven years of stripping comes with a lot of drama.

First it all started when she was trying to find a roommate and the only option she had was Shayne Topp, her mysterious and alluring coworker that was the most popular dancer at the club. They moved into their two bedroom apartment together and barely spoke a word to one another. A year after the roommate problem Olivia faced her first ever girl crush that came in the form of a blonde haired green eyed girl named Courtney who managed to have one of the prettiest smiles on the face of the Earth and managed to steal Olivia’s heart. Olivia would pine after her for the next two years until Shayne would figure out that she had a crush on the spunky blonde, jumpstarting the unlikely friendship between Olivia and Shayne. 

Then Olivia found out that Shayne had a crush on the kind hearted brunette dancer named Damien which caused a whole whirlwind of problems. Soon Damien and Courtney were dating, then Shayne and Olivia were fake dating, then the club got robbed, Damien and Courtney broke up, and _finally_ after two years worth of painful crushing and pining, Shayne and Damien ended up together and Olivia and Courtney managed to confess their feelings to one another. A year later everyone was still happy and working at the club and Shayne and Damien had a beautiful wedding.

But then there was the divorce.

It came out of nowhere, nobody saw it coming. Everything seemed like it was going so well and it upset Olivia most of all because Shayne, her best friend, didn’t tell her anything about why the divorce was happening. One day the blonde and brunette were married and the next they were sitting everyone who worked at the club down and having to confess to everyone that they were no longer married, and they didn’t plan on getting back together any time soon. Damien moved out of the apartment, Olivia moved back into it despite Courtney’s protests, and it felt like they were back where they started. 

What was worst of all was it seemed like neither Damien or Shayne wanted to acknowledge the divorce ever happened. At work they treated one another with respect and spoke to each other frequently, like friends, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing but it did irk everyone as it made everyone feel completely on edge whenever the two were in a room together. It seemed like the breakup was _too_ clean, as if the relationship and marriage never happened. Shayne remained the most popular performer at the club, decided he should take some online classes and get a degree in psychology, and even got a new job as a kickboxing instructor; it really seemed like his life was turning around. Damien also got a new job at a bookstore as he still enjoyed working with literature but the library was just a bit too quiet for his taste. Shayne would even frequent the store, say hello to his ex, and they’d act like they had known one another all their lives. The divorce was strange but the way they acted towards one another was even stranger.

But really most of it was just a ruse as Olivia knew most of the truth. She did live with Shayne after all and they were best friends so even though he didn’t confide in her before the divorce he would occasionally share how he felt about it every once and awhile. Shayne would tell her how much me missed Damien, how he knew that Damien knew exactly how he was feeling but he couldn’t talk to his ex about missing his ex, and that sometimes he wished the divorce never happened. Olivia was happy that she moved back in with Shayne now that she knew he was actually hurt by the events of the divorce and she could reassure him that sometimes things just don’t work out and Damien was probably feeling the same way. However, moving back into her old apartment with Shayne came at a cost. 

Courtney was hurt when Olivia informed her that she would be moving back in to her old apartment. She protested the move, saying Shayne needed to figure things out on his own and he was a grown adult, two years away from thirty like everyone else and he could work out his feelings by himself. Courtney thought things were going so well with Olivia and even though two of their closest friends had just gone through a divorce, she was planning on asking Olivia to marry her. But because it seemed like it was so easy for Olivia to just drop everything and move out of their shared apartment and back into her old one made Courtney question how real their relationship actually was. She stowed away the little velvet box she had been keeping in her purse for the past couple of weeks and decided that if she was doubting the relationship, maybe it just wasn’t meant to be. 

Unlike Shayne and Damien’s very sudden break up, the break up between Courtney and Olivia was slow and agonizing. First Olivia moved out, then their date nights kept getting postponed because one of them had work or the other just wasn’t available, response time to texts became greater and greater, physical contact became limited, and finally their coworkers started asking if things were alright between the two of them. Courtney was the one to officially end things.

“I just think that, in the past couple months the two of us have grown apart, become distant, maybe even-”

“Two different people.” Olivia interrupted, finishing Courtney’s statement. Olivia had tears in her eyes, she knew this was coming because for the past couple of weeks she had only seen Courtney at work and neither of them had made an effort to even text one another. Olivia blamed herself for letting the relationship fall apart and slip through her fingers, she had focused all her time and energy on herself and not one of the most important people in her life.

“Yeah, two different people. Maybe the people we have become aren’t in love with the new versions of each other, maybe we just aren’t meant to be together any more.” Courtney said, refusing to even look at Olivia because she knew Olivia was already crying and Courtney just couldn’t handle that at the moment. 

“I don’t think either of us have changed that much.” Olivia spoke softly.

“Well,” Courtney whispered, “then maybe we just weren’t meant to work out with one another in the long run.”

Courtney finally looked up at Olivia, and while Olivia’s eyes were full of tears, Courtney’s eyes were mournful and pleading almost as if they were begging Olivia to say something that would change her mind and stop her from making this decision. 

“I guess we weren’t” Olivia responded.

+++

It was a Friday night which meant it was the same routine. Olivia stumbled into the apartment with Shayne close behind her, each of them exhausted but richer than they were that afternoon. Olivia opened the door to her room and kicked off her sneakers, sweatshirt, and gym shorts and tossed them into the laundry basket by her door. Pulling her costume out of her bag she could smell the sweat and body odor radiating from the thin fabric and decided it was best if she washed it the next morning. But laundry was a tomorrow problem so she tossed it into the corner of the room so it would become a physical reminder that she needed to wash some of her costumes in the kitchen sink tomorrow morning. Technically tomorrow was today as it was 3:30 in the morning and Olivia had to be up by nine if she wanted to test out her new routine as well as do her meal prep for the upcoming week. 

Olivia threw on a pair of Shayne’s old boxers he didn’t want anymore as well as an old t-shirt and walked into the bathroom so she could do her nightly routine before completely collapsing on her bed. She brushed her teeth quickly before taking a long, hard look at herself in the mirror. Sarah had decided they should go with a thick and heavy eyeliner look to match their all black, leather costumes everyone had worn that night. Olivia’s eyes were rimmed in think, black eyeliner and her lips were painted dark red which contrasted with her fair skin. She scrubbed the makeup off her skin with her makeup remover and washed her face shortly after. There were still remnants of eyeliner around her eyes but when wasn’t there remnants of eyeliner around her eyes. 

Shayne walked into the bathroom as she was drying her face and he murmured goodnight to her before opening the toilet lid so he could use the bathroom. Olivia left the bathroom after mumbling goodnight to Shayne as well and collapsed in her bed after she plugged her phone in to charge. 

She didn’t even bother counting all the cash she had made that night but it was busier than normal as it was the start of the summer and all the newly graduated college boys wanted to hit up the club in celebration. Olivia decided that counting her money was another tomorrow problem, which is something she said about most _of her problems._


	2. Changes

Mari’s alarm jolted her awake and she groaned when she saw how early it was. She had forgotten to turn her alarm off the night before and she had been woken up at her usual weekday time, not her weekend time. 4 AM was an ungodly hour and the sun hadn't risen over the New York City skyline yet. Mari turned off the alarm on her phone and buried her face back into her pillow and started thinking about how if she was the president of the United States, she would make it illegal for anyone to get up before 9 AM on a Saturday. 

Just as she was dozing back off to sleep her phone vibrated which caused her to wake back up again due to her phone still laying on the bed instead of her nightstand and she could feel the mattress vibrate. Mari cussed out her phone again and squinted at the bright light it emitted so she could clear the notification and go back to sleep. It was a Snapchat from Wes and while her heart fluttered at the boy sending her a snap she also cursed him for being up so early. She opened the snap and saw it was him in his workout clothes getting ready to go to the gym. Mari took a quick picture of her bedhead in response and threw the phone back on her nightstand so she could fall back asleep. 

As she tried to get some sleep, Mari couldn’t stop the thoughts in her head from racing in all different directions. She was completely head over heels for Wes there was no doubt about that but there was no label on their relationship so Mari didn’t actually have a clue about how Wes felt about her. They had been on dates and even slept together a couple of times but every time Mari felt like it was the proper time to ask Wes to be her boyfriend he revealed he was also seeing other people which prompted Mari to do the same. It wasn’t like they had an open relationship because they were never exclusive in the first place, and they were definitely more than friends but Mari saw Wes as someone who was more to her than a friend with benefits. 

Olivia would always tell her that what Wes was doing to her was unfair and how she needed to come clean with her feelings but over the past two years she had seen two completely stable and healthy relationships crumble and Mari didn’t want to risk her friendship with Wes. Not everyone could have what Shayne and Damien had after their break up and it felt like her relationship with Wes was already on the rocks. 

Boys are the absolute worst sometimes. 

Mari pushed the thoughts about Wes out of her head and focused on getting the much needed sleep she so truly deserved. Monday through Friday she was a dance instructor at a little studio Olivia also happened to teach at. They had gotten the jobs at the little studio around the same time and both Olivia and Mari taught ballet to children between the ages of six to fourteen, Mari typically taught the older students considering her background was a little more extensive. Never did Mari believe she would travel back to her routes of ballet, she thought she put it behind her almost ten years ago, but she knew she couldn’t work at the Forever 21 in Times Square for forever and this ballet instructor job didn’t have shitty pay. The problem was she had to teach Mondays through Fridays from 7 AM to 3 PM, and two of those days she had her night job at the club.

Her body was constantly enduring a dull aching sensation and her feet were started to revert back to the damaged state they used to be in when she did ballet full time when she was younger. Mari also worked out every morning at 5 AM and Thursdays - Saturday nights at the club could also be considered another workout session. Sundays were the only real days off she had and they were filled with errands she needed to run and bills that needed to be paid. Sunday brunch with the girls used to be something she had to look forward to but then Boze left the club to work at a marketing firm and the breakup between Courtney and Olivia happened. Sometimes Mari felt like the only person she could really talk to was Ian, and even he had just gone through a disappointing breakup fairly recently. 

Thoughts were still racing in Mari’s head but this time they weren’t just about Wes but about the club in general. So many people had left over the years which they head feared would cause business to go down but business was only getting better and better as Ian thought they could rebrand as a club that was a little more exclusive now that private dancers were a little more limited. Boze had left shortly after Damien and Shayne’s wedding, Anthony left so he could focus on his own bar he was opening in downtown Manhattan, Flitz moved two years ago to LA where he was able to open up his own dance studio, and Tanner left six months ago after getting a gig as a travel photographer. 

But with some of the dancers leaving the club to pursue different career paths it gave Ian the chance to sort of “rebrand” and allow the club to be marketed a little differently. Circus was still one of the highest rated and top performing clubs in the city but now that dancers were a little more limited, the club became just a little more exclusive. Private dances were a little higher in price, bigger parties had to make reservations, and the atmosphere in the club became a little more high end. So long to the trashy bachelor parties and the screaming girls who used to fawn over Shayne, and hello to rick CEO’s and high rollers who gave good tips and treated the dancers with respect. 

After Anthony left to focus his time on his own bar he was opening up, Ian hired one of his close friends, Matt Raub, as the new assistant manager. Matt was great and brought a new enthusiasm that was much needed as well as changes that overall improved the atmosphere of the club. Of course the club still maintained the subtle circus and whimsical theme, but with slight changes in lighting, costumes, and backdrops for the main stage as well as music the club felt a little more glamorous and flashy.

Lights became neon, creating bold shadows and illuminated the dancers with contrasting colors and shapes. Sarah started to make the costumes a little more bold by adding headdresses, feathers, and chains that paired with the outfits. Musical numbers became more precise, the club became more organized, and the cash started flowing in even easier than it had been before. 

But all the thinking Mari had been doing for the past couple of hours prevented her from falling asleep and just as she was in the middle of taking a light nap her alarm went off yet again signaling it was now 10 AM and she really had to get up now. 

Mari pulled herself out of her bed and stretched her aching muscles. It was a Saturday meaning it was the busiest night at the club but also the homestretch as tomorrow would be her day off which was very much needed. After brushing her hair and throwing it into a messy bun, Mari took the sheets off her bed and threw them in the wash so she could have fresh, clean sheets for when she came home late that night. It was a pain having to put her sheets back on her bed but she did this every Saturday, and her future self always thanked her past self for taking the time to clean the sheets so she could finally get some much needed sleep. 

After drinking a half-assed smoothie that she made herself for breakfast (it was literally just leftover berries she had in her freezer and a couple spoonfuls of yogurt) she threw her sheets in the dryer and went to the bathroom so she could do her “morning routine”. As Mari washed her face she heard her phone buzz on the counter top and saw it was a text from Ian asking if he and Matt could come over and go over the night’s schedule with her. She shot him a text saying the door is unlocked and she finished washing off the rest of her face wash.

While Mari wasn’t a manager for the club, something that came with way too much responsibility and she didn’t want anyways, Ian always liked her input on things such as scheduling or event planning. Mari had known Ian for years and even helped him open the club and recruit some of the original dancers such as Flitz and Wes as well as the two bartenders, David and Matthew. She was like an honorary manager for the club and she liked to help control the night’s schedule so everything flowed well. 

Just as she finished putting on her sheets she heard her apartment door open as well as the muffled voices of Matt and Ian. She saw them setting up in her living room, laptops open and a bag of takeout on the table. She said hello and sat down on the couch across from them and watched as Ian pulled up his Excel spreadsheet as well as a Google calendar.

“Alright, so what’s the game plan?”


	3. Hesitations

Olivia sat alone at the bar sipping a shirley temple David made for her in the midst of making colorful and classy cocktails for the many customers of the club. She sipped it while watching Mari take the stage for a solo dance that would involve her aerial hoop. As always, Joven was behind the stage controlling the lights and sound with the help of Ian and Matt Raub. With the recent changes made in the club, music changed from pop songs and popular rap music that was overplayed on the radio to slightly more hardcore stuff that was much more pleasant to the ears and had better intrumentals. The band Muse was the perfect choice for the clubs new look and feel as their music had suggestive lyrics that weren’t too obvious as well as creative instrumentals that felt futuristic. The beats were easy to dance to and because most of their songs weren’t super popular, it made the audience feel like they were listening to something new and special. Of course there was the occasional throwback performance, but for the most part all they played was Muse; but that didn’t seem like a problem with the crowds coming in.   
Mari was debuting her new routine for the song “Take a Bow” where she gradually performed more complex moves and the hoop would slowly spin faster and faster. The crowd was going nuts for it, practically chucking their money at her as she danced with grace and allure. Olivia continued to watch from the bar and cheered on her friend who was absolutely killing her solo performance.  
The night had only just begun and most of the dancers were either milling around in the club giving lap dances of freestyling on the pole or were doing the reserved private dances. Shayne, was booked for three and was in the middle of his first dance in room number one towards the back of the club. Noah had a private dance going on as well and after he was finished Courtney was booked for a dance right at midnight. Olivia was grateful she was only booked for private dances very rarely, she liked being out in the crowds of the club and setting up shop at the bar where she could talk up the customers. While private dances made good money, having such a small crowd or maybe even one person watch you and possibly critique every mood just wasn’t her speed. Shayne however loved doing private dances and was especially excited because the Romanian High Roller, the handsome businessman who came in every once and awhile, was in town and booked Shayne for a dance. Shayne knew he would be walking out of the club with good money that night.   
Mari came down from the stage and took the money that was practically shoved in her face before taking a seat at the bar next to Olivia. Keith took his place at the pole where he would be doing a number to MK Ultra and the lights dimmed again and the crowds focused their attention to the center of the club where Keith was. Luckily the Bar was a little closed off from the speakers which made the area just a tad quieter per Sohinki and David’s request so they could hear drink orders better.   
“So how’s the partner dance coming along?” Mari asked after taking a long sip of water. Olivia shrugged her shoulders and continued sipping on her shirley temple.  
Ian had suggested that maybe a couple people pair up and do some partner dances. Partner dancing can easily become sexualized and might work well with the new atmosphere of the club. Shayne was the first to volunteer for the partner dance and he asked Olivia to be his partner. Naturally, she said yes, and the two had started to work on a routine that involved elements of ballet but also the waltz along with the sensual dancing they were used to. Shayne chose to dance to the song to “Undisclosed Desires” by Muse, which was arguably one of their more risque songs just off the title alone. The routine had been coming along nicely but Olivia always felt jittery when she had to unveil new routines, Mari could perform them without a care in the world.   
“Maybe we’ll show it next week, when Sarah has the new costumes ready.” Olivia said as she watched Keith move gracefully on the pole. Her eyes fell upon Courtney, who was just entering one of the private rooms with a tall man with reddish brown hair following close behind her. She was holding his fingers lightly, flirting with him while tugging at the ends of her short blond hair, and giggling. Olivia’s grasp tightened around her glass. “So how are things going with Wes, I was surprised to learn that the two of you weren’t planning on doing a dance.”  
Mari was also scanning the crowd and she sighed as her eyes landed on Wes’s figure. He was talking up a girl and in the middle of giving her a subtle lap dance, even in the club setting he was a tease. His fringe fell in his face, he recently got a haircut and his hair was no longer long, silver, and down to his shoulders but brown and had the similar cut to Chris Evan’s hair in his movie “The Red Sea Diving Resort”.   
“I thought I already told you that thing with him were almost a complete bust.” Mari started adjusting the straps of her black, lacey lingerie so she would stop picking at her fingernails, just looking at Wes made her feel confused and uncomfortable.   
“Just checking, I thought maybe you guys had worked something out.”  
“Yeah well, boys are dumb.”  
“People are dumb.”  
Olivia set her drink down at the bar after downing the remainder of the cherry syrup stuck between the ice cubes. Her set was in a couple of minutes and she didn’t like arriving late to the stage. She would be performing her usual routine to “Starboy” by The Weekend and she couldn’t wait for it to be over.


	4. Sunday Nights with Sarah

Sunday brunches slowly came to an end shortly after Boze moved upstate to work at her new fancy marketing job. After the big bad divorce was finalized and announced, a week later Boze told everyone she had accepted a new job which wasn’t completely out of the blue, but considering the life changing news drop Damien and Shayne had shared the week prior, everyone seemed to of forgotten Boze mentioning that she had sent her resume out to a couple of different firms. Then after Boze moved, Damien found his new place, and Olivia of course moved back into her old room, and suddenly she hated working at Starbucks because one of her closest friends wasn’t there anymore, thus the reason she found the dance studio job. Olivia and Mari endured a new, grueling work schedule that allowed Sundays to be their one and only day off, allowing them to blow off the stress of Thursday and Friday where they both had to work at the dance studio and the club. Even though their muscles were constantly aching, they were in the best shape of their lives and their bank accounts were thriving. Due to the constant exhaustion and not to mention the painful awkwardness that came with Courtney and Olivia being in the same room, Sunday brunches with the girls was put to an end.

However, Sunday night dinners at Sarah’s apartment became the new tradition instead. Because Sarah lived in Hell's Kitchen, giving her access to about a billion restaurants and bars, Olivia and Sarah started spending the evenings with one another. Mari or Shayne would come with them every now and then but Olivia understood that Shayne valued his alone time and it was good for the two of them to spend some of their social time apart, because every other second of their social time was with another. Mari on the other hand would only come if she was up to being around people, she found that as the years went on she really needed just one full day of not seeing or speaking to another person so she could recharge for the rest of the week. 

The two women decided on ordering Thai food for pickup and while Sarah ordered, Olivia sat patiently on the subway taking her from her apartment located in the Upper East Side to Hell’s Kitchen. Sarah met her outside the station and they walked to the restaurant together as Olivia Venmoed Sarah her owed amount for the food. They grabbed their food from the front counter, Olivia left a generous cash tip in the jar, and together they went back to Sarah’s apartment. 

“You wanna watch something after we eat? It’s only 6 o’clock and I know you have to wake up early but I’m in the mood for watching a movie.” Sarah suggested as they walked up the stairs leading up to her apartment. Olivia’s calves ached with each step, her solo performance she had done the previous night had left her worse for wear and she had made a mental note that morning that she needed to take an ice bath after doing such strenuous solos. But a movie sounded fun, she hadn’t really sat down and watched a movie in a while because after the many years of living with Shayne Olivia had finally picked up the habit of reading on a regular basis. Now she didn’t even know what shows were on the air and honestly, she didn’t seem to care all that much. 

“I’d be down for a movie. If it goes too late I’ll just get Shayne to pick me up on his bike. It’s summertime anyways, and he’s always looking for an excuse to go riding. Did you have anything in mind?”

Sarah pulled out her DVD and Blu-Ray collection but said they should focus on eating before the food got cold, Olivia had no complaints as she was starving anyways. She ordered fried rice for herself, not really feeling super exotic with her dinner choice because all she wanted was carbs, and a small order of dumplings for herself as well. Sarah and Olivia sat on the couch as they ate, laughing about things they saw on twitter and Olivia showed Sarah what her most recent ASOS purchase was. Sarah had asked if Shayne had shared any new information about the divorce, she and everyone else was itching to know what happened but Sarah was one of the only people who could outright ask about the situation considering how close she was to Shayne. Olivia shook her head no, Shayne was back to being mysterious, not as mysterious as before he and Olivia had grown close to one another, but fell back into his old habit of never sharing anything about his personal life unless Olivia was directly involved in it. 

“Last time he mentioned anything about it was almost a year ago when he got drunk and told me how much he missed Damien, but knew he shouldn’t text or talk to him in that state. Since then Shayne has avoided alcohol and seems to always be on guard about the whole situation. I swear, I don’t even think I’ve seen him cry about it.” 

“But didn’t he mention something about trying therapy like a couple months ago?” Sarah asked and she scratched the chin of her old cat, Maxwell, who was perched on the arm of the couch. The tip of his tail was gently moving up and down, the long black fur swishing with every movement. 

“He mentioned it but I don’t think he’s made any effort. I know he’s my best friend and obviously I’m doing everything I can to be there for him but he seems relatively okay, at least on the outside which I know doesn’t count for much but I don’t want to overstep my boundaries. Shayne can get defensive pretty easily and I don’t want him to think that he’s suddenly losing a friend or I’m trying to decide what’s best for him.” Olivia said as she watched Maxwell’s tail continue to flutter up and down. His eyes were closed in contentment as Sarah finished scratching the underside of his chin and focused on eating her food. “I think he’s finding a lot of comfort in his new job, school, and the club. Him and I have been working nonstop on this new partner dance we have to do with one another. Once all this busy stuff dies down then maybe he’ll start to come clean about stuff, I guess I just want him to share it whenever he’s ready because I don’t think we will get Damien’s side of the story any time soon.”

Sarah nodded in agreement and finished off her glass of wine before returning to the kitchen to put her dishes in the sink. “I think you’re taking the right approach. Looking back, I seriously regret the way a lot of us treated the two of them when they revealed the divorce. We almost cornered them for information even though it wasn’t our right to know, and then we did it with you and Courtney right after.”

“Oh I wouldn’t say that Sarah!” Olivia scoffed. “I mean some people were kind of pushy about stuff I guess but like, I understand why. Suddenly the two perfect couples at the club had broken up and with basically no reason as to why. All of us are so close anyways so I get why people reacted the way they did. None of us really told anyone what was happening until everything was all over.” Olivia looked at the cat again. He had moved to his cat bed beside the couch and was curled up in a little ball about to fall asleep. ‘Oh to be a cat’ Olivia thought to herself, wishing she was like Maxwell who had no cares in the world besides when it was time for his wet food. 

“But still,” Sarah said just as she popped the cork off of another wine bottle, a cheap chardonnay that didn’t sell well at the club so Ian gave her the rest of the supply free of charge. “I guess we all kind of scared the shit out of the two of them, making them not want to bring any of it up in fear they might upset us. I’m just still happy that the divorce wasn’t a huge mess and it all got settled in a week.”

“They certainly lucked out.” Olivia graciously took the glass of chard Sarah offered her and took a sip, it wasn’t great but it was free. “But on a more important note, what are we watching?”

+++

The end credits for the movie “Spirited Away” faded onto screen as Olivia wiped a tear from her eye. She always loved that movie and for whatever reason she could never refrain from crying when she watched it. Maybe it was the nostalgia, the alcohol, or perhaps it was the fact that now more than ever she would like to be Chihiro and work at a mystical bath house for the rest of her life and have a cool river spirit best friend named Haku. 

She texted Shayne who arrived at the apartment about forty five minutes after he responded saying he was bringing the bike out of the garage. The New York City streets weren’t too unbearable but it was NYC after all and traffic was always a pain. Olivia wished a heartfelt goodbye to Sarah who walked her out of the apartment and Sarah made sure to give Shayne a warm hug as well. 

Shayne helped Olivia put on her helmet, she wasn’t able to grasp onto the buckle completely due to her growing tiredness due to the wine and he helped her onto the back of his sport bike. Shayne got on after, made sure Olivia was holding on tight, and they sped back to the apartment surrounded by the warm summer breeze and faint nightlife.


	5. The New Neighbor

Summer was finally beginning in NYC which meant busier streets, more customers for the club, and antsy ballerinas itching to get out of the studio and outside with their friends. The young girls were becoming harder to control and contain which meant more exhaustion for Olivia and Mari who were fed up with the girls complaining about how hot it was outside and how much they’d rather be anywhere else. 

Mari had it worse than anyone as she taught the older girls who danced at the studio, so much drama came with teaching middle and high schoolers who were entering their first relationships, struggling with their futures, and started maintaining unhealthy eating strategies so they stayed in perfect shape. Mari always kept a close watch on her girls, making sure they had enough energy and didn’t look too skinny or complained about their shape. Mari was also known to be the much more strict instructor in comparison to Olivia who taught the beginners, young girls who were still building up the muscles to go on point. 

It was a Tuesday and Olivia felt much more refreshed than the did the day before, coming into work slightly hungover was never super fun, and luckily the weather outside wasn’t too warm. After saying goodbye to the parents and students she gathered her things and walked to the train station with Mari. Just like her students Olivia was happy to be outside soaking up the sun rather than be inside the stuffy dance studio. Her muscles relaxed and she enjoyed the usual commotion and bustle of the city. 

The girls made it just in time for Olivia’s train which was headed uptown whereas Mari’s train would arrive in five minutes which would bring her to her apartment in Greenwich Village, south of where the dance studio was located. They said their goodbyes to one another and Olivia hopped on the train headed home. It was nearly four o’clock now, not too late and Shayne had been home all day since he only worked mornings, and he was probably already cooking dinner. Olivia sat in her seat quietly as the train rushed through the tunnels and occasionally stopped to let people on and off. Eventually her stop came and she was finally home.

The walk from the station to the apartment wasn’t too long and Olivia watched as kids skateboarded on the streets and people walked their dogs. She caught a glimpse of a cat lounging in an apartment window, people watering their flower boxes sitting outside their windows, and birds flying overhead and landing on power lines. Olivia reached her apartment building and walked through the front lobby to the elevator, pressed the button that brought her to her floor, and waited for the doors to close.

“Wait!”

A sudden, shouting voice shook Olivia out of her daze and she looked up to see a young man running across the lobby towards the elevator. He was holding a cardboard box that was all taped up and looked flustered. Olivia clumsily threw her arm in front of the closing elevator door making it open back up so the stranger could rush inside. The young man placed his box on the ground near Olivia’s feet and looked at the buttons before turning back to Olivia.

“Oh nice! We’re on the same floor.”

Olivia smiled and nodded her head awkwardly while getting a better look at the stranger. He looked to be about her age, mid twenties, with dark brown eyes and hair to match. He stood a couple inches taller than her but was noticeably fit, almost dwarfing Olivia’s thin stature and build. Olivia tried to crack a less awkward smile and turned away from him so she didn’t seem like an idiot or a creep, she hadn’t said a word to him or introduced herself and all she was doing was staring at him for no reason.

“I guess that makes us neighbors.” 

“What?”

Olivia was too caught up in her thoughts to process what the stranger had said. He smiled and let out a low laugh as Olivia imagined herself slamming her head repeatedly against a wall. Now she _really_ seemed like an idiot, ‘Guess my chances for making a good first impression are officially out the window’ she thought to herself.

“I said I guess that makes us neighbors.” The guy said just as the elevator reached their floor. He didn’t seem phased by Olivia’s slip up but she knew he was probably just being nice. “I moved into apartment 50A.”

“Oh, nice. I forgot that place was up for rent. The guy who used to live there moved out forever ago.” Olivia said as she adjusted her work bag and gestured for him to get off the elevator before her as he struggled carrying his cardboard box.

“Yeah, apparently it was a hard place to sell for whatever reason. The guy who moved out said he kept hearing doors in the hallway open and close at weird times of night.” 

Olivia’s face flushed, ‘Now this guy is _really_ going to think I’m a fucking weirdo.’. They stopped in front of his apartment that was close to the elevator and she tried to muster up a smile.

“Well considering there are only two apartments on this floor, I guess he was referencing my roommate and I. We both have weekend jobs that we work night shifts at, but we will try and be much quieter with the doors. I guess we didn’t realize we were slamming them or something.”

“Ah okay, I’m sure he was just making a big deal out of nothing. When I visited the apartment before it seemed pretty quiet so I'm sure there won’t be a problem.” He smiled at Olivia who smiled back, awkwardly as she realized that not only did she seem like a creep but she was also a sweaty, disheveled mess from teaching all day. “But working nights must suck, especially on weekends.”

“It pays well.” Olivia said quickly while trying to figure out a way to cover up the fact she worked at a nightclub as a dancer who wore very risque costumes and specialized in provocative aerial hoops. “Because it’s on weekends, and at night, so it’s like almost getting paid triple time.”

“Ah okay.” The stranger said while nodding his head, he seemed like he believed it so Olivia relaxed a little bit. “I’m Sam by the way. I started moving in this morning and finally got the last box so hopefully by the end of the week I’ll be unpacked and able to host some sort of cocktail party for my friends who live in the city.” He stuck his hand out before saying, “And I’ll let you know when that is so maybe you and your roommate can stop by and I can figure out how to get in on this triple time paying job.”

Olivia shook his hand with wide eyes and a very forced smile. “Yeah, I’ll let you know if there are any openings. I’m Olivia in 50B down the hall and if you see a buff blond guy around that’s my roommate Shayne.” She slipped her hand out of his grasp and slowly walked backwards to her apartment. 

“So I’ll see you around?” Sam asked.

“Uh yeah, maybe!” Olivia said quickly before slipping inside the comfort of her own place. 

Olivia walked hastily through the living room and past the kitchen where Shayne was preparing some sort of fish dish for dinner. She shut her door before Shayne had a chance to ask about her day, dropped her bag on the floor, and threw herself onto her bed. Olivia’s mind was racing with too many thoughts, her heart was pounding, and her hands were starting to shake. She had a very big problem on her hands that she didn’t think would ever occur.

Olivia had formed a new crush.


	6. Dance Practice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there are a couple of things I would like to address before I continue with this fic.   
> First, I know recently there were live streams from Boze and Joven in regards to things happening at Smosh. After doing some research I found that there were several accusations about Matt Raub and how he treats employees and how he fazed several members out of Smosh after they got picked up by Mythical. I went to Tumblr which I don't frequent as much as I used to and saw that there are several people hating on him, talking about how they have always disliked him, as well as their opinions on the whole situation. While I do wrote stories about Smosh for this fandom I do have several qualms with this fandom in general and about this topic. Being in a fandom there is always going to be some level of toxicity and while I can't control or change that, I can have my own personal feelings about it. One of the main reasons as to why I don't write like I used to is because of how the way this fandom handles things or as treated things in the past which is why I quit for a while. I don't keep up with the Smosh fandom community all that much mainly because I have no desire to and I also despise they way they have treated this topic and another than I am going to mention in a second.   
> From this point on Matt Raub will no longer be in this fic as to appease people and he is not an integral character anyways.   
> Second, from this point on I will be writing Wes Johnson out of this fic as well. Over the past couple of days some serious allegations have been made against him by notable streamer OMGitsfirefox. While in her statements she didn't state Wes's last name, it is clear that these allegations of sexual assault are about him and in all truth I do believe her and she has my full support. Funny though how no one seems to be talking about this, no one is asking for a response from Wes, and no one really seems to be rallying with FireFox and giving her any sort of support in this fandom.   
> In all honesty I do not keep up with the NE6 group as the Smosh Games members weren't my favorite members to begin with. While these statements probably seem controversial because in this fandom everyone seems to have the opposite opinions as me, I would like to be fully transparent with the content that I am putting out.  
> So to clarify, I will no longer be writing about Matt Raub mainly because I don't need to and that isn't want people want. I will also be writing Wes Johnson out of this story and will no longer keep him as a character if I ever write any more Smosh fanfic. He has lost my respect as a creator and until any concrete proof comes out that he did not do these things he was accused of, he will never have my support ever again.   
> To the 2 people that still read my stuff sorry if this comes as a disappointment but I do not care. These are my thoughts and feelings on the situation and I hope you take the time to read this message.   
> -RSublett

Just like last time Olivia chose to not tell anyone about her crush. She felt guilty, stupid even, all because of her handsome new neighbor. On Thursday night she refused to even look at Courtney because Olivia felt like she was betraying her previous lover and long time crush. She knew Courtney probably took some offense to it, not like they were really talking to begin with, but with a couple of stolen glances Olivia could tell Courtney was a little more pissed off with her than usual. Instead Olivia chose to focus on her work, perform her new complicated hoop routine, and think about couples performance she and Shayne had been putting off for the past few weeks. 

God, that stupid partner dance performance that she and Shayne had agreed on. In the moment it seemed like a good idea so she could get her mind off things but her brain had been more foggy than ever. Between her mixed feelings for Courtney and her new neighbor as well as trying to hide it all, she didn’t want to think about creating a new routine. In all honesty, she and Shayne had hardly worked on it and the only person who knew about it was Sarah, who had barely worked on the new costumes she would make for the two of them and their special dance. Neither Shayne or Olivia knew what song to even dance to and she had never done a sexual, choreographed dance with someone. Sure the went on stage with Mari all the time, but their hoop routines were just the dance moves in sync and they were on opposite ends of the stage. 

Olivia was a classically trained ballet dancer and the last time she went on stage to perform with a partner was her last run of the annual Christmas performance of The Nutcracker. She had the lucky role of the Sugar Plum Fairy meaning she got to perform the beloved Pas De Deux with her Cavelier, funny enough Mari did the exact same thing with a different company out in California a few years prior. But this just meant that not only was she out of partner practice, she didn’t know how to make a partner dance perfectly sexual. Sure you can take the easy way out by making the dance overly sexual by making the whole dance one big grinding session, but her and Shayne didn’t roll that way and the club didn’t either. Sure, it was a high end strip club, but high end meaning it wasn’t trashy. There are many ways to make things sexy and create a perfectly choreographed, well executed dance where the two partners are practically pining after one another and making love with just their eyes, will always be a much better high for a customer than you and your partner grinding your pelvises together. 

Thursday night left Olivia in a slump to say the least and it didn’t help that she had to teach the next morning. When she arrived at the apartment with Shayne at around one in the morning she found someone had slid a note under their door.

**Small party at my apartment on Saturday, starts at 8PM. Hope to see you there!**  
**-Sam (text me at (267)348-3958)**

_Fuck_ Olivia thought as she held the note up to Shayne who was reading it over her shoulder. Now she had the number of the guy who was making her feel all conflicted. Shayne shrugged and Olivia threw the note onto the kitchen counter so it was out of the way.

“Have you met him yet?” She asked Shayne as he walked to his old bedroom.

“I met him yesterday, he told me he had met you earlier in the week. Seems nice, shame we can’t go to his party.”

“Maybe another time.” Olivia said as she went into her own room after throwing the contents of her gym bag into the laundry machine. She flopped on her bed, exhausted from work and hoped she would fall asleep quickly. She didn’t bother showering since she had work in the morning where she would be cooped up inside the sweaty dance studio almost all day. Olivia drifted off to sleep, still on top of her bedding and in her leggings and sports bra. 

+++

Not only did Olivia not really know how to choreograph a partner dance between her and Shayne, the first step of picking a song was proving to be one of the most difficult parts to this whole ordeal. The first pick was “Undisclosed Desires” by Muse, but then they realized that that song was already in use at the club so they didn’t want to reuse it. The two of them had also been getting a little tired of the constant Muse music playing at the club and wanted to do something different. “Do It” by Chloe X Halle was also thrown around, but that song would be easier to dance to if their routine was completely synchronized, it wouldn’t work as a two person partner dance where they needed to work together, not just be the same. 

“Moral of the Story” by Ashe had just been rereleased with Niall Horan on the track and Olivia knew that would be an easy song to make a partner dance to. However the song was incredibly close to her and Shayne. The song is all about falling in love with the wrong person, breaking off engagements, and being alone. Sure putting the moves together would come easily, but it’s hard to dance when all you’re doing is sobbing along to the music. 

Olivia and Shayne were getting tired of going through their Spotify playlists over and over again trying to find a song that would work for them. Just as Olivia was going to call the quits for the time being, she went on YouTube just to see if there was anything in her recommendations that would make sense. 

“Queen of Disaster” by Lana Del Rey was the first thing to pop up on her feed. She listened to it a while back when she first heard about the song. It’s one of Lana Del Rey’s most upbeat songs with a steady rhythm in the background and lyrics that describe a dysfunctional relationship. The song is unreleased and can only be found on YouTube which is why Olivia hadn’t thought of it sooner. The song is peppy and you can dance fluidly to the melody, _Maybe this is going to be easier than I originally thought_.


End file.
